Reality kicks in by DS
If there is one positive from last Sunday it was Wenger’s honest appraisal of just how bad Arsenal were. Some managers, including Arsene, would’ve put it down to just one of those days. On another day Peter Cech doesn’t have his worst ever Premiership game, most of the time Sanchez is fit, and mostly Arsenal would have more to show for 20 plus shots.
He could have said all of this to boost morale as quickly as possible for a tricky game at Palace this Sunday. But the truth is that Wenger was both hurt and shocked at what he was witnessing, a realisation that we are not as good as he thought we were – and still miles away from winning the Premiership. Like two seasons ago against Aston Villa it’s a shame it takes a defeat for Wenger to stop being blinded. He, the board, some fans, even pundits were falling into a trap of thinking this group of players are better then the reality.
Czech will improve us but the goal keeping position is not the reason we finished 12 points behind Chelsea last year, there are far greater problems.
We are routinely told about the spirit in the group and the desire to win things, but where was that ethos on Sunday. For a squad who spent all summer saying how a poor start cost them 12 months ago, shouldn’t we have been chomping at the bit on Sunday, especially with Chelsea dropping points 24 hours earlier. That should have been every incentive for us but yet again (like against Monaco) our attitude was appalling. At 0-0 we played at a pace where we thought we just had to show up to win. As soon as West Ham scored we lacked composure, the likes of Giroud and Ozil losing their temper way too soon.
Worse though is that no one was surprised by this performance. Over the years Arsenal have had too many performances where when they don’t show up it falls apart. Too many times for us to be champions anyways.
At least Mr Wenger and the Board have been warned and have a couple of weeks to do something about it, at least they can no longer hide behind last season.
Dan